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Money

“Our hope is that local community groups will attempt great things for the

glory of God and the good of the city as we seek to serve like Jesus.” ~ Reality L.A.

(on why they set aside $20K for community groups to use to touch their community)

Jesus’ Focus On Money

As I’ve been reading through the gospel of Luke, one of the things that strikes me is how focused Jesus is on money. Over and over again this topic of money shows up in the ministry of Jesus. In fact, I find these statistics to be interesting:

Jesus talked more about money than anything else except the Kingdom of God

Jesus talked more about money than He did about Heaven and Hell combined

Of the 39 parables Jesus told, 11 of them deal with the issue of money

In the gospel of Luke, 1 out of every 7 verses talk about money (that is staggering to me!)

How we handle money is not a side issue to Jesus, it is a central issue! How we handle money is not separate from our spiritual life, it shows our spiritual life.

“I can see more about the spirituality of a man by reading through his checkbook than I can by reading through his prayer book.” ~ D. L. Moody

How Should I Think About Money?

I find verses like these help to me to think properly about money:

“But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1Ti 6:8-10)

Words like “Fall”, “temptation”, “snare”, “senseless” and “harmful” are ones I generally try to avoid in life; and words like “evil” and “pierced themselves” and “many pangs” are words I run from at all cost.

What About The Church?

As the church plant in Claremont is becoming more of a reality, practical issues are becoming more real. One of those issue is the church and money and the philosophy of the “church’s money”. I don’t have all the answers in this area, but I do know this: there is no penny that the church has or ever will have that is not under the sovereign control of Jesus, who owns the church. And because of that, there is not a single dollar that is reserved except for the cause of the gospel and the glory of His name. My heart is to see us be a church that is fiscally conservative but missionally agressive, and where those two collide, then with wisdom and humility, I pray the Lord will lead us to lean on being missionally aggressive, regardless of the cost.

Like an individual person’s life, I take it that the life of the church, if it falls in love with money, will live out these words: “fall”, “temptation”, “snare”, “senseless” and “harmful”. And when those words loom, soon will come the words that followed in Pauls admonition to Timothy : “evil” and “pierced themselves” and “many pangs”.

Lord, protect us as a church from God dishonoring wasteful spending and sovereignly keep us from suicidal hope in money!

Let’s Buy Friends!

Jesus said it: “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:9)

It means we care more about people than money. Let’s live it out. Here is a church that is doing that!!

Missional Grant

This summer, Reality LA has set aside $20,000 for our new Missional Grant program. This program is intended to encourage and equip RLA community groups to reach out on mission to their local communities. We want to financially equip groups to plan projects beyond what their own resources could normally afford.

In making the grant available, we want to communicate to the value of your partnership in the ministry of the Gospel. Whether it’s renovating a local care facility, assisting local families, or getting equipment for a local school, we encourage you to be creative in meeting your neighborhood’s needs. Our hope is that local community groups will attempt great things for the glory of God and the good of the city as we seek to serve like Jesus.

Missional grant proposals require a sponsoring community group. Please speak with your CG leader before submitting an application. If you’ve spoken to your leader, you can fill out the applicationhere.